The Asia Pacific Spa & Wellness Coalition (APSWC) is registered as a not-for-profit organization in Singapore and today represents over 700 spa and wellness business operators from across the Asia Pacific, and as far afield as Europe. The APSWC is run by industry leaders, and we invite you to submit industry insights, local industry association news, including interviews and government announcements of interest (original or reprinted with permission) for our webpage. Please include a picture or two as our editorial team believes you are better placed to submit a more appropriate image to support your submission. This is an on-going educational / informational / marketing opportunity for our members and the broader industry.
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https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-jacka-823217/
Is there anyone, anywhere in the world, that has done as much for the industry as Andrew? He has worked with various non-profits tirelessly and selflessly for 20+ years. He has been the voice of the industry to governments and NGOs, and always goes the extra mile to find opportuniry. Just ask anyone who has had anything to do with the Thai Spa Association (TSPA( or Asia Pacific Spa & Wellness Coaltion (A)SWC) since 2000! He is Asia Pacific Representative, TERMATALIA (Spain); Organising Committee Member, World Spa & Wellness Asia, (Thailand), Advisor, Asia Pacific Institute of Hydrotherapy and Climatotherapy Tourism, (China) and Ambassador Emeritus Global Wellness Day (Turkey) as well as holding down a full time job!
Faridah (Orni) comes from a family of traditional healers and have shared her skills and knowledge to countless trainees worldwide. A certified aromatherapist, beauty and spa diploma holder, her talent for training is only topped by her passion for teaching. She teaches mainly Malaysian traditional treatments with a special focus on Mother and Baby care. Her training portfolio spans the globe and she has trained in South East Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Russia. Orni travels nationwide to give career talks to collage students with hope to develop Malaysian skilled therapists.Orni have also been instrumental to the creation of Urutan Malaysia which is the Malaysian signature massage. She is currently, one of 10 certified Urutan Malaysia master trainers. She is heavily involved in Malaysia’s Department of Skills development and have sat as a panel expert in countless skills development board. Lastly, Orni counsels mothers in preparation for childbirth by giving talks nationwide.
Dorothea was involved in a series of collaboration calls to bring industry leaders in the spa and wellness industry in Malaysia together in meaningful dialogue to share ideas and best practices for navigating the COVID-19 crisis during the pandemic. Dorothea organized via a network of teams, displaying deliberate calm and bounded optimism, making decisions amid uncertainty, demonstrating empathy, and communicating effectively to fight for the industry reopening and negative profiling of the industry as entertainment, non-essential and negative list, financial aid & initiatives and mass immunization. Working on strengthening the image and good name of the spa and wellness industry by campaigning members/non-members to be rated under the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and to register their Spa and Wellness Centre under the Department of Skill Development, Ministry of Human Resource to elevate the local spa industry to meet international standards in certifying their therapists.
Is there anyone, anywhere in the world, that has done as much for the industry as Andrew? He has worked with various non-profits tirelessly and selflessly for 20+ years. He has been the voice of the industry to governments and NGOs, and always goes the extra mile to find opportuniry. Just ask anyone who has had anything to do with the Thai Spa Association (TSPA( or Asia Pacific Spa & Wellness Coaltion (A)SWC) since 2000! He is Asia Pacific Representative, TERMATALIA (Spain); Organising Committee Member, World Spa & Wellness Asia, (Thailand), Advisor, Asia Pacific Institute of Hydrotherapy and Climatotherapy Tourism, (China) and Ambassador Emeritus Global Wellness Day (Turkey) as well as holding down a full time job!
Backed by over 30 years of experience in the industry, including experience working in HK. Mandy was destined to be an expert & role model. Trained in Monica, a reputable beauty company in HK. Mandy started off as a beautician & climbed her way up the corporate ladder. In 2000, she was crowned the winner of Mrs World Malaysia & clinched the Best Costume Award in LA. She is highly passionate & practices high level of integrity & compassion. Like many beauty entrepreneurs, Mandy believes the servicing industry is a person-business, but more than belief is managing it soundly. She is the positive force behind the Body Perfect Team entourage. She is highly passionate & dedicated when it comes to beauty & wellness. She is kind, loving, generous, humble despite her achievements. She emphasizes a lot on good business ethics & integrity. She walks the talk. A certified NLP coach – she continuously conducts trainings & creates / innovates treatments to benefit women holistically. She has initiated & led the breast cancer awareness movement in Malaysia, is committed to nurture the youth force,, provides youth work scholarships, empowers women, and recruits & provides opportunity to women from all walks of life. Mandy continues to push the Body Perfect Team to help ladies achieve their beauty & wellness goals.
John Stewart is the Founder and Chairman of Kamalaya Koh Samui. He is a devoted spiritual acolyte, public speaker and inspirational visionary and leader in the global wellness industry. He lived in the Himalayas for 16 years under the tutelage of an exceptional Himalayan master embracing a traditional yogic monastic lifestyle while building a renowned ashram. He embraced community service, constructing rural schools, medical clinics, and a remote hospital in Kathmandu.
John Stewart was a pioneer in holistic wellness that to this day brings unparalleled results-oriented and purpose-driven wellness programs to its guests from all walks of life..
John continues to spread his vision at industry events including Global Wellness Summit, 2018; International Ayurveda Yoga Conference, 2020; Global Wellness Day, 2022 and the World Spa & Wellness Conference 2022.
The beauty and wellness industry has been Ailina’s area of expertise for 24 years, and she is passionate about what she does, making her a great and experienced trainer. Ailina is responsible for creation of new treatments and training materials preparation as well as ensuring learners are familiar with the materials and know how to complete activities. As part of her training to newcomers, she adopts the following 4 steps: Preparation-Demonstration-Practice-Evaluation. In addition to making sure the trainees gain a full understanding of the treatment flows and the guest’s experience, Ailina also spends time performing the treatments on trainees. This is to ensure they follow the procedures and steps in the correct manner. Since some learners prefer visual learning and others are fast learners, she adjusts the training accordingly. Through her guidance and knowledge sharing, the newly trained therapists provide excellent quality treatments and guests are happy with their experience.
He has worked with IplusQ as business development manager to initiate new strategies and also conduct training for IplusQ clients. In 2022, he propose to organize the event call Open House which is our in house exhibition designed for the prospect who might be interested to make the order with IplisQ but is unable to decide. This is not only for educating the product knowledge to client but also improve the conversion rate for the potential client also. Moreover, at the end of the week, there will be one full-day training course which we call start up class. This class is designed for new entrepreneur who might be not confident to launch the product or have less experience. The students will be able to understand overview of industry and know how to develop product proposition before launch and do their own brand archetype with thier brand scent at the end of class.
During the past 25 years, Cesar has trained thousands of therapists from all around the world (5 continents, 35+ countries), training for the most recognized Spa & Wellness brands, in massage and beauty schools, government schools, and other clients. He also teaches in Spa Management Masters in Universities & Spa Associations. He works with hospitals training doctors in integrative medicine & wellness, and collaborates with governments training business owners to adopt a wellness approach. He has published 19 training books & DVDs, 4 e-courses, given lectures in 25 countries, teaches more than 40 different courses, writes for magazines in Europe, America & Asia, and the list goes on & on. He is probably the most prolific, knowledgeable, and respected trainer in the industry, but he still considers himself a forever student. His life purpose is to train others to create a positive impact in society, helping people to live healthier and happier. He is an inspiration for other trainers.
Hana has always wanted to be hands on in learning the ropes of the various businesses available within the eco-system of Spa & Wellness industry and she has proven this through her avid involvement as an entrepreneur in the following sectors:
• Spa & Aromatherapy product supplier
• Educational institution as management, trainer and lecturer
• Day spa operator and owner
• Spa consulting and business coach for a national training agency
• Women’s post-partum health through her Chicago-based company
Her experience has given her the foundation to start two new ventures this year:
• Co-founding and starting up the first Muslim-Friendly Massage chain spa with Syariah-compliance company
• Launching a medi-spa focusing on women’s health and aesthetics services
She currently holds the post as Association of Malaysian Spas President and will be graduating with a Masters in Education by the end of this year. Her passion and dedication towards the industry is commendable.
Kanan Kudeken joined our team three years ago, after graduating from beauty school. She has not only improved her skills as a professional but has also faced various difficulties and worked hard every day with a positive attitude toward everything. She has never given up with her dream of becoming the best therapist in Japan and has worked hard to achieve the result. She her time both before and after work every day to practice, and undertakes extra training on her days off to help her achieve her goal. Her efforts have been rewarded when she won the ‘Grand Prix in Facial Techniques’ category at the 12th Esthetic Grand Prix, Japan National Competition in June 2022 at her first appearance at the competiontion. She competed against 407 therapists from across Japan.
Mala is an award-winning Dermal Clinician and industry journalist. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Health Sciences (Clinicial Aesthetics) from the Australasian College of Health and Wellness. She completed her Beauty Therapy diploma with Elly Lukas in 2011, then went on to obtain a bachelor degree in Journalism. Since then, Mala has worked with a number of salons, skin clinics, cosmetic physicians and luxury hotel spas over the past decade, in both hands-on beauty and dermal roles as well as marketing and content capacities. Mala has produced copywriting and content for industry platforms like SPA+CLINIC, Beaute Industrie, and Inside Aesthetics podcast, as well as for clinics, practitioners, and beauty and wellness brands. Striving toward industry betterment and a lifelong commitment to learning, Mala hopes to use her positions to encourage greater interprofessional relations to improve patient outcomes/experiences, and improve opportunities for aesthetic and wellbeing practitioners.
“• Master’s in Business Administration ongoing with the UNIVERSITY OF MALAYSIA SARAWAK.
• Honorary Secretary to the board of the Malaysian Association of Wellness & Spa (MAWSPA).
• Safe2spa Task Force Campaign under the guidance of MOTAC, MAWSPA & Association of Malaysian Spa (AMSPA) Malaysia.
• Task Force Covid19 MAWSPA /AMSPA Team ”
Publications to help the spa, wellness, beauty and hotel industries improve their performance and profitability, including Spa Industry Research, Spa, Salon and Wellness Operations, Management, Treatments and Training Manuals, Spa Consultant Manual and Toolkits, Mentoring and Custom Research Projects.
Our clients are located around the globe and include spas, salons, wellness centres, bath houses, hotels and resorts, retreats, spa management companies, banks, financial institutions, management consultants, industry associations, tourism boards, government departments, architects, investors, developers, suppliers, event organisers, news media and educational institutions. Intelligent Spas is a unique supplier with the primary purpose of providing a large collection of quality publications to help businesses improve their performance, at affordable prices.
Intelligent Spas has provided electronic publications with immediate download since it was founded in 2001 and has published over 100 publications during that time. The brand is known for independent, statistically reliable industry research and high quality, practical manuals which may be customised by the purchaser.
“We work in partnership with more than 15 leading and luxury spa and wellness brands in the world and supply all other necessary essential items, to provide any successful spa and wellness operations in the region. Training is at the heart of everything we do. With the treatment menu created with our clients, we customize protocols and provide training by our experienced international trainers. Training onsite and online at aiming to set our client on the right path to success.
Our Syllabus are carefully curated with our clients based on their concept and treatment. On-going training syllabus are also provided in order to meet their operation needs.
In addition, we also provide Videos for therapists to watch and review at the convenient time. ”
Cemaraayu works with more than 100 experienced and master craftsman. Many do not have the knowledge to market their product, and some live in very remote villages. Ceramaayu is their international eyes and hands, utilising their skills to make handcrafted and ecofriendly equipment and accessories for over 500 hospitality and spa businesses across South East Asia.
LEMI has been manufacturing treatment tables, chairs and multi-function cabins for Beauty & Spa sector since 1989. Today Lemi is one of the major players on the international scene and the brand can currently be found in over 100 countries worldwide. LEMI is always developing and improving our products to meet the latest requirements, and multifunctionality of products (our Spa tables allow to perform several treatments in the same cabin, ensuring a unique wellness experience.)
Sasy n Savy works closely with over 45 Australian organic farms to source our vegan organic active ingredients. The range contains 47 Australian organic active ingredients and over 41 associated skincare & healthcare benefits. We are accredited with Australian and international associations on a product and business level to back this up. With over 20 years of customer service, we have streamlined the ordering, despatch, marketing and training service for our clients. Orders are despatched within 24 hours and clients have a 14 day policy to raise any issues about there order. Our clients also receive a client portal link that gives them access to everything they need about our company, training, marketing, certification, social media, product certificates and how to sell. Our orders are dispatched world wide, and each year our Managing Director travels the world servicing our clients and supporting our distributors with their sales, marketing and training needs.
Our main goal is not to maximize the sales volume, but to maximised our clients’ success. At IplusQ, our working approach is targetted to identify the clients challenges and their concerns, then we work closely with them to deliver the best solution for them.
“We believe that we are providing the best nail, hands and feet services in the 5 stars spa market at the moment with a dedicated medical approach , and luxury experience. We elevate the nails services to another level with professionalism and emotion. We educate the team but also clients by sharing our knowledge about feet and nail as French Podiatrist. Most of the hotel spa therapist are specialized in massage and facials few are in pedicure and manicure. Thus complain is easy to get.
We provide dedicated team to avoid those complain and increase the revenue of nail service. Most of nail survives in spa represent less than 3% of total spa revenue, with us we increase to 10 to 15%. ”
Sustainability & Environmental Friendly Initiatives & Best Practices in place are: Bulk packaging for common use Toiletry Amenities. Dehydrating unconsumed Fresh Fruits so it does not spoil; used for snack or mixed with infused water or tea. Repurpose & incorporate in periodical add-on treatment offers or enhancers, slow moving and nearly expiring professional spa products so that they get consumed & not go to waste. Repurpose torn unusable bath towel into foot mitts. Discontinue serving individualized bottle water for guests at the pool, tonic bar & gym. Instead have an enticing selection of drinking water & a decorative rack of unbreakable glasses available. Repurpose unusable flat sheets into poultice for treatments instead of buying brand new muslin cloth. Switching off lights & power when area is not in use. Instead of giving out printed spa menu- requesting for guest email to send treatment menu thru email/ Viber. Reusing empty massage bottles for storage of liquid products.
Our facility take advantage of natural light whenever available & make sure that unnecessary lights and power are switched off. We also aim to reduce impact on cutting trees to produce papers because of the paperless initiatives. The Spa Menu is on digital version available thru ipad. There is also a QR code you can use and a downloadable/shareable file that can be sent via WhatsApp, Viber, Messenger, etc. so that it can be easily accessed thru the guests’ phone or email. Spa Consultations are also done using a tablet linked to the Spa System that allows paperless tracking and the information is integration with the point-of-sale system to record guest history, and provides real time monitoring of guest visit. Spa Retail is also available thru the in-room tablet DigiValet application and products can be delivered to the guest room or local city-wide address and we also offer digital registration for workshops/welless programs.
Oasia Spa champions support for the local community in the form of partnerships with local businesses such as Asmara for 100% natural probiotic health drinks and Crunch Cutlery, a nutritious, eco-friendly alternative to plastic cutlery. As part of the Spa’s Wellness Facilities, Grobrix Hydroponics empowers the Spa to grow their own produce with its low maintenance vertical farming system. Herbs such as mint and rosemary are harvested fresh from the herb garden, and used in the spa’s infused water and spa treatments. With Nordaq’s premium and eco-friendly refillable water filtration system, single-use plastic bottles are reduced in the long run. Additionally, fresh fruits offered in the hotel and spa as part of the wellness amenities and snacks are often left unconsumed. To reduce food wastage, they are dehydrated in-house and served as healthy dehydrated chips. Excess and unconsumed green apples are also creatively turned into apple crumble, a popular dessert at Bedrock Origin.
Cempedak is a member of The Long Run, a membership organisation of nature-based tourism businesses. Cempedak has adopted The Long Run’s objective of striving to achieve an optimal balance of Conservation, Community, Culture and Commerce (the ‘4Cs’).
For the owners of Cempedak, this is their second project having previously developed nearby Nikoi Island, a resort which they opened in 2007 and have received extensive positive feedback for its sustainability efforts. The success of Nikoi led the owners to develop Cempedak, developing on what they have learnt from their first property and incorporating it into a new build targeted at an adults-only audience.
The owners of Cempedak see the value of collaboration and partnerships, and have helped fund the establishment of two local foundations- one based around education and another on conservation.
Martha Tilaar Spas approach to social responsibility is implementing sustainable development goals (SDGs) in our organization. One of the company’s four operating pillars ” Empowering Women ” aims to counter poverty and human trafficking. We set up the Martha Tilaar Training Center in 2000 to support the company’s spa business and franchise operations. We recruit disadvantaged women in small cities and offers scholarships for three to six-month training sessions. The center provides a consistent stream of professional and skilled spa therapists. It also advances the UN’s SDG Goal 5 on Gender Equality and Goal 10 on Reduced Inequalities by helping the women secure jobs and become financially independent. Some 6,000 women have passed through the training center and now work across Indonesia and around the world. Some have evolved into successful entrepreneurs with their own businesses.
Nikoi is an active member of The Long Run, a membership organisation of nature-based tourism businesses. Nikoi has adopted The Long Run’s objective of striving to achieve an optimal balance of Conservation, Community, Culture and Commerce (the 4Cs™). In May 2022, The Long Run awarded Nikoi Island with Global Ecosphere Retreats® (GER®) membership, the highest level of certification they offer which is said to represent a centre of excellence in sustainable business practices.
Using the 4Cs framework as a base, Nikoi has created and implemented locally relevant initiatives to ensure sustainability is prioritised in operations. To list a few examples: significant progress has been made for local conservation through Nikoi’s support towards establishing a marine protected area, the community has benefited significantly from the Island Foundation- an education charity established by Nikoi and local culture is preserved through an artist in residence program at the property.
“The Wellness Makers (‘TWM’) is a new website which acts as a platform for DIY Spa Consulting. The aim is to help the small to medium new entrepreneur who has a vision and passion for wellness, but cannot afford to hire expensive international consultants.
The site helps new entrepreneurs get from ‘idea’ to ‘open’ by offering the following:
– online education, guiding them step by step through the business planning and pre-opening process, using the same process followed by professional consultants;
– ready-to-use tools and templates, including spreadsheets, checklists, manuals, action plans, etc.
– referrals to suppliers of products, equipment and professional services (e.g. design)
– referrals to consultants and management companies – if the entrepreneur want someone to do some or all of the work for them.
**In short… SAVES TIME, SAVES MONEY, REDUCES MISTAKES & RISK ** ”
Covid-19 presented us with a situation where we had no choice but to re-think how to run our business more efficiently. At Spa Village with undertook a number of innovations including, consolidating four spa location reservations into one central reservation center. We now use mobile and WhatsAop numbers to take reservations and to confirm bookings, reducing the conventional land line inefficiency of a staff member to pick up and transfer the phone call. Our hygiene and safety protocols are of utmost importance, as we have committed more time sanitize and prepare the space for our guests. We also encouraged advance booking and pre-payment, which lead to fewer cancellations as we discouraged walk-in business. We closed the spa for two days a week, enabling us to have more staff on a daily basis. The results of these innovations in our business led to a more efficient business model and our people are more productive while our guest service scores remained high.
Amalfi is the union of massage table and pedicure station. Equipped with 3 electric motors, the base features a built-in hydromassage tub. The mattress has a removable section which, once reintegrated, offers a large and comfortable work surface.
Tanamera have managed to take a traditional practice that is in the danger of being lost and use it as a basis to create a whole new wellness initiative. From developing specific Postpartum wellness rituals to training professionals to perform them, Tanamera have catered to a specific group of clientele normally overlooked by the wellness industry. Our efforts encompass a holistic approach to the wellness initiative where every aspect is addressed so that the initiative can be replicated worldwide and reach a wider audience.
